Outlining
This presentation addresses one of the essential skills for law school exam preparation - outlining. Outlining your courses can be a very helpful tool in condensing and organizing the information that you've learned in your courses. It is also a good way to begin synthesizing case rules and looking at broad legal frameworks. The video presentation provides some background about what outlining is and why you may want to do it, along with examples of different outlines. Below, you will find the video presentation, the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, and several examples of outlines that you can use for inspiration. The different outline examples address the same torts topic (some more broadly than others), so you can see some different ways to organize the same information.
Outlining Links to an external site. - video presentation
Outlining - PowerPoint presentation
You may also find it helpful to review the Outlining video from orientation. That video is embedded at the bottom of this page.
Please note that any outlines below should not replace your own outlining. They are provided as examples of different types of outlines that you could construct.
Outlining examples:
Example linear outlines: Torts 1 Download Torts 1, Torts 2 Download Torts 2
Example flowchart outlines: Civ Pro personal jx Download Civ Pro personal jx, Torts duty of care Download Torts duty of care
Example chart outlines: Crim mens rea Download Crim mens rea, Torts standards of care Download Torts standards of care
Example attack outlines: Torts 1 Download Torts 1, Torts 2 Download Torts 2
For more examples of real 1L outlines, you can look through the outlines available on the NYU Law Outline Bank Links to an external site.. Again, do not use these in place of your own outlines. They are from different professors and may be incorrect or out of date. They are provided here as a set of examples that you can use to inspire your own outlining process. You will probably notice that these outlines have been created using lots of different formats and vary widely in length. There is no set outline length that you need to follow, though most outlines will probably fall between 20-40 pages. This will vary in part depending on the subject and how many credits your class is.
Additional reading:
Outlining for Exams Links to an external site. - from The Writing Center at Georgetown University Law Center
Outlining Law School Courses Links to an external site. - from the UC Davis School of Law Academic Success Program
Creating a Course Outline Links to an external site. - Herbert Ramy, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Orientation Outlining Video